Slashdot Mirror

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".
"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7139797.stm

"Our projection of 2013 for the removal of ice in summer is not accounting for the last two minima, in 2005 and 2007," the researcher from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, explained to the BBC.

"So given that fact, you can argue that may be our projection of 2013 is already too conservative."

Part of the blame must be laid with the article writers, part with the sources quoted. The sources didn't put any effort to correct the news articles if they were misquoted.

The BBC has been talking about it all morning. I doubt there has been a similar level of coverage of the paper mill fire in Birmingham this morning on US TV. In fact it took a bit of time to find it on the BBC website even.

Rhetorical questions: based on the large-surface high-impact outcome, wouldn't this qualify as a blatant case of cyber-terrorism or cyber-war? Now, where's that nuclear strike from NATO?

(my point: before trying to stop vulnerability exploitation by moronic laws or DCMA-export treaties, wouldn't it pay better to clean your own yard? You know? It may be beneficial no matter who if the "aggressor" is a script-kiddie or North Korea.
But... who am I kidding? Doing this require some competence and thus would be too expensive)

This attempt to build an unified Europe is coming to the same end all the previous ones have. The only question is: how chaotic will the collapse be?

It won't be a collapse, it will be a war, actually a civil war similar to the mid-19th century civil war in the United States. The United States of Europe will go through the same thing. The wealthy productive states will impose more and more requirements on the indebted states, the indebted states rebel, the wealthy states resentful that their money would be used to bail out the states that spent more than they had, and it will come to a head.

So which are the wealthy states? Well, at the top is Germany. And many in Europe see Germany as attempting to implement the "Fourth Reich" to take over Europe through financial means. That may be a little over-the-top, but the political climate there is growing heated. Germany and the EU will use this crisis to press for greater central control, and in fact are already doing so. Countries that don't like giving up more sovereignty balk, and more financial pressure is applied. We can only hope it doesn't turn into a shooting war. Already a lot of street-level violence going on.

The vicious bite of a 2% interest rate strikes again.

. . . "In a nutshell, everything we got from America in World War II was free," says economic historian Professor Mark Harrison, of Warwick University.

"The loan was really to help Britain through the consequences of post-war adjustment, rather than the war itself. This position was different from World War I, where money was lent for the war effort itself." . . .

. . . the US had effectively donated equipment for the war effort, but anything left over in Britain at the end of hostilities and still needed would have to be paid for.

But the price would please a bargain hunter - the US only wanted one-tenth of the production cost of the equipment and would lend the money to pay for it. . . .

But the terms of the loan were extremely generous, with a fixed interest rate of 2% making it considerably less terrifying than a typical mortgage. . . . -- What's a little debt between friends?

As a historical note, christianity used to have nearly identical rules concerning usury; and the deep suspicion of interest-bearing loans is a least as old as Aristotle(who was Not A Fan).

As time went on, though, a number of... increasingly creative... legalisms were hacked together to allow contractual arrangements that were loans at interest in everything but name. In the case of christianity, the charade was so transparent, and the amount of obviously-loan-backed economic activity so significant, by the early modern period, if not earlier, that almost everyone bowed to the inevitable and "usury" stopped meaning 'charging interest' and started meaning 'charging lots and lots of interest'(and even 'lots and lots' has proven to be pretty flexible).

Islam has not (yet) reached the 'eh, fuck it, sure we charge interest' stage; but let's just say that they are doing some downright jesuitical work at the 'So, what sophistry can we spin to make interest not look like interest?' stage. The range of products dubbed 'islamic finance' won't say 'interest'; but it will look like a duck and quack like one.

I don't see anything like that listed at the BBC open source website, so maybe they decided to contribute to an existing project instead
http://www.bbc.co.uk/opensource/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22160978

Fortunately, only a regional court which is convinced of that http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20025626

The days of everything being far (i.e. an order of magnitude) cheaper to make in China than the west are slowly coming to an end. There is still a price advantage ATM, but it is eroding, and parity exists in some areas, and there is an actual price advantage with western labour in a few situations.

There was a documentary on UK TV last year that looked at a cushion factory which was seeing parity between its Chinese and UK plant - and this is sowing and stuffing cushions, not making high value goods:

The Town Taking on China

Basically wage costs are rising fast in China, coupled with a labour force that shops around constantly to get the best deal, playing factories off against each other (that leads not only to higher wage costs, but also difficulty in skill retention). Skill retention may not mean much when it is sowing cushions, but there is always a learning curve for efficient work, and poor retention impacts on productivity. The third string in the bow is shipping costs - the price of fuel has quadrupled in the last 15 years.

All of these things add up. The good thing is that some basic manufacturing jobs will move back to the west rebalancing the economy - the bad thing is that most manufactured goods will jump back on to the inflation conveyer belt again - after ~20 years of their cost being frozen while our pay still rose at 3-5% per year - they will be back in step again as China starts to level out with the west on living standards.

when over half their "users" are bots

21st century payola
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/22104058

Check out the radio 4 (truly excellent channel)'s recent episode on our digital legacy (ep3 of Out of the Ordinary) - it discusses not only what happens to your data after you die (eg people can still send you emails and unless they know you're dead just assume you're ignoring them), but also your online presences (eg your facebook page that is still active). Then there's the issue that accessing your old data might help your grieving relatives (assuming you use a different email account for porn) or hurt them if they log on to the net and facebook helpfully sends to suggestions you connect with your dead friend, whose account is still active and un-closeable.

Who do you want to be able to read your old emails when you die? Are the dead entitled to privacy? Jolyon Jenkins reports on the increasingly contentious issue of our digital legacy.

As we lead more of our lives online, we leave behind an ever bigger digital footprint when we go. There are the public parts - the blogs, the tweets, the forum posts - but also the private things such as the emails stored on servers owned by companies like Google. Sorting out the digital legacy is becoming as onerous as being a traditional executor.

But it brings entirely new problems: in the case of people who have died suddenly or mysteriously, relatives sometimes feel that they are entitled to get access to the email accounts of dead person to try to find a clue to what was happening in their lives. But many email providers resist handing over this material because of a confidentiality clause in their terms and conditions. Jolyon Jenkins talks to the Stassen family in Wisconsin who took both Facebook and Google to court to gain access to the accounts of their son Benjamin who committed suicide. He also talks to Esther in Kenya who similarly would like to get into her dead sister's email account to try to find a clue to her unexplained death. But unlike the Stassens, Esther has had no luck.

These are uncharted waters, where analogies with old technology quickly break down, where the principles are unclear, and where important private and personal matters seem to be left to the discretion of big corporations.

incorrect, you can buy pizza with bitcoins and the more popular bitcoin gets, the more places will accept it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22110345

Thunderbird shows will also be canceled

Well these Thunderbirds from International Rescue were cancelled in the sixties. Looks like just in time that we sent that pillock David Milliband to restart the whole thing.

A hurt locker is just that. a locker where you keep hurt. hence it would stink to be in that locker... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8555318.stm

Let's assume that the complaint is upheld. The following year, Microsoft complains about free linux being a trojan horse. And Oracle complains about free MariaDB and free PostgreSQL being trojan horses.

A lot of compainies fear Open Source. This isn't a new idea either. It was present 9 years ago when Bill Thompson wrote about SCO for BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3537165.stm

> At the moment Microsoft is under attack because GNU/Linux is an operating
> system which can replace Windows.

> But once we see an open source alternative to Quark Express running on
> those Linux boxes, or Postgres databases replacing Oracle, and an open
> source digital music store that challenges iTunes, we can expect to see
> Adobe, Apple and the rest of the software industry piling in too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/557340.stm

Should be really easy to study - are aircrew more likely to suffer the ill effects of ionizing radiation, whatever those are.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/557340.stm

at least the BBC have :

In quotes: Margaret Thatcher

Obituary: Margaret Thatcher

Video obituary

whatever the politics at least link to the BBC...

John Jones

at least the BBC have :

In quotes: Margaret Thatcher

Obituary: Margaret Thatcher

Video obituary

whatever the politics at least link to the BBC...

John Jones

at least the BBC have :

In quotes: Margaret Thatcher

Obituary: Margaret Thatcher

Video obituary

whatever the politics at least link to the BBC...

John Jones

That too might be disinformacija.(sic)

Got news for ya, buddy. So is their story about 9/11, but we had to reopen the opium supply line somehow.

As an employee, you are not responsible for everything your company does. Neither in the USA nor in France.

How about in Italy?

(Yes, I know it was overturned on appeal, but still...)

Wandalust1956 5th April 2013 - 10:01

This is just, in essence, the 21st Century equivilant of the Mass Observation project that started in the 1930's and included the diary of a housewife from Cumbria during the 2nd World War...which was turned into a TV play by Victoria Wood. http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm As long as the content is "relevant" to current affairs then it could be a cultural insight to life in the 21st Century.

Report from BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22028738

Brazil confiscated huge amounts of money 23 years ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21876149

'In her first act, Zelia, as she was known, went on national television to tell the country that all bank accounts were being frozen and that no-one could access more than 50,000 new cruzados in the currency of the time (a sum then worth about $1,250).'

This isn't a new thing, you just didn't know about it before. It's not necessarily going to shake all confidence in the system just because you suddenly found out about confiscation.

Yeah, nothing stupid ever happens in Europe.

There was a BBC documentary last week about a guy in Florida who was entrapped into sharing his prescription painkillers with a police informant, and ended up in prison for 25 years, not because he didn't want to co-operate, but because he didn't have the criminal network to be of any use to the police.

To get good information on Europa, you really need a lander. You might not even need to drill - organics may flow up from the ocean and get frozen in the crust. But a lander is necessary to get actual samples. In fact, if they send that Curiosity clone they're planning to Europa instead of Mars again, it might get much more interesting results!

There may be some fun 10 meter long ice blades ("penitentes") on the surface of Europa that would be amazing to see close up (though maybe not so great to land on). Dr Hobley: "We are expecting a band around the equator where it is spiky."

I thought something might be brewing http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22003551

The whole day, and right now, this story is in the top 10 most read articles on BBC News
So clearly, someone does give a rat's ass.

Private health insurance means that everyone pays a premium dependent on their risk level. An NHS type system means people pay a premium based on their income level.

So with private health insurance I don't really care if you live an unhealthy lifestyle. With an NHS type system I do - my taxes will need to go up.

In fact in the UK there have been proposals to remove NHS treatment for people who injure themselves when drunk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/2010/02/should-boozers-foot-the-bill-f.shtml

I work for the NHS on the frontline, and binge drinking is a huge problem, but you can't charge drinkers, unless you charge the smokers and the fatties for the illness their choices cause. You'd even have to charge sportsmen who damange their ligaments running!

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-03-07/health-trusts-restrict-treatment-to-those-with-unhealthy-lifestyles/

A nationwide Freedom of Information request by the medical magazine Pulse revealed many types of surgery, MRI scans and IVF treatment are being withheld from obese people and smokers.

In the Anglia region, NHS Bedfordshire has barred obese patients from hip and knee surgery until they loss 10% of their weight or their Body Mass Index drops below 35.

NHS North Essex requires patients to lose at least 5% of their weight, and keep it off for 6 months.

While NHS Hertfordshire patients must have a BMI under 30, while smokers have to attend a stop smoking course to have any type of surgery.

Lawyers warn that health authorities risk being sued by patients if they can prove they've been discriminated against.

It's particularly risky in places like the UK where the rich pay most of the income taxes but the poor tend to have unhealthy lifestyles.

E.g.

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/tax-28258

In 2009-10, the top 1% of Income Tax payers were responsible for 13.9% of declared income before tax. Conversely, the same group paid some 26.5% of the money taken by HMRC in Income Tax. These figures are very close to those cited by Mr Redwood, albeit slightly different.

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9819607/Minister-poor-families-are-likely-to-be-obese.html

According to Department of Health figures, the poorest children are almost twice as likely to be obese than the richest.

Government figures published last month showed that 24.3 per cent of the most deprived 11 year-olds in England were obese, compared with just 13.7 per cent of children from the wealthiest homes.

There's a strong incentive for the rich to support an authoritarian model whereby NHS treatment is withheld from the obese and smokers simply because the rich are less likely to be in that category.

Incidentally if you add in VAT and duty on tobacco and alcohol you find that the poor pay about the same percentage of their income in tax as the rich

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/household-income/the-effects-of-taxes-and-benefits-on-household-income/2009-2010/data---the-effects-of-taxes-and-benefits-on-household-income.xls Table 3

Still despite that there is an incentive for NHS trusts to deny treatment to people with unhealthy lifestyles - it cuts down on the expensive medical care you need to provide.

It's like in the US where you pay your premiums and then get denied treatme

Is this the source of this story? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21895704

Well China has recently voted in favor of sanctions against NK; previously they did not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21710919

China will "intervene" (as in attack the North Koreans at our request) if we ask, so long as we promise to take care of the refugees.

I wouldn't be too sure. The way China has been acting towards its neighbours lately, I wouldn't be surprised if North Korea ratcheting up the tension is part of a bigger plan.

If the above hypothesis is true, we should be able to measure that Gulf Stream disruption.

It hasn't happened. It's thus not supporting that hypothesis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8589512.stm

Links screwed up: link1 link2

"although the fact that there were three cuts so close in time was, and remains, hard to believe."

I debunked this conspiracy theory at the time. I can't be arsed to do it in such detail again, but the gist of it was that using the ITU's stats on cable cuts 3 cuts in a week wasn't out of the norm and submarine cables tend to get cut all the time (at least once a week). It's a more common occurrence than people realise.

Couple this with the fact that Egypt has the Suez canal which is one of the busiest (or even simply the busiest?) shipping lane in the world and there's really nothing hard to believe about that sort of incident at all.

I know some people get excited when they see a chance for conspiracy but I'm afraid the world is often much less exciting. Much as I might be amused by the idea that this woman is part of a crack commando unit for example, I think she really was probably just looking for salvage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13158351

Unexplained? We've had several stories about bees and pesticides, including just today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21958547.
It's only unexplained if you think there's something more sinister at work than common poison.

More likely some mafiosi that controls malware and spambots, and their "clients" don't like a bunch of amateurs blocking their messages.

DING DING DING

From the BBC article:

Spamhaus has alleged that Cyberbunker, in cooperation with "criminal gangs" from Eastern Europe and Russia, is behind the attack.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21954636

No b/s subscription paywall nonsense

Takes a special kind of dumb to manage this!

Story broke in 2008 (Randi), NYT (2009), and then in 2010 the BBC did more work on it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm
Here's the original WIkipedia page, from 2009, with the links to NYT and Randi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ADE_651&oldid=323934632

I don't know what kind of incompetent banks you have where you live, but banks here don't let anyone with an IBAN set up a direct debit. Our direct debits here in Portugal need to be authorized by the account holder, after proper authentication.

How is the authorisation done?

In the UK you can set up a recurring payment with a name, address and bank account number (e.g. filling in a form for a regular donation to a charity).

e.g.: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7174760.stm (You can undo it, and shouldn't lose any money -- the millionaire TV presenter in the article probably thought he'd look bad if he asked for the donation to be undone -- but that's not my idea of fun.)

How about checking your facts?

EADS and BEA failed to merge, particularly because Germany objected to it.

See here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19897699

Make a video recording of all communications with militant feminists. You may need to produce this if falsly accused of 'harrasment'.

Sexist joke' web developer whistle-blower fired

People have been doing that, and causing some of the Chinese producers to bankrupt themselves already, even with all of the government subsidies and kickbacks.

This is obviously nothing but marketing BS. Apple is trying to do the least it can. It tried to quit EPEAT but had to rejoin as large customers were slipping away... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18837492

That shows their true colors, and it's not green.

The British National Health service runs entire hospitals dedicated to placebo treatment.

Just because it looks like war "usually" lacks substantial collateral damage doesn't mean that's actually the case; an attacking military like ours will typically keep the full toll to itself (or not keep track), give numbers knowing they won't register meaningfully in most people's minds, and/or imply (if not state outright) that the people that were hit were enemies.

We're rarely told about things like tactically unimportant shantytowns well removed from the real target being bombed seemingly without reason, long enough that adults & kids hiding (ineffectively) in their shacks snap, bolting into the open like the 13-year-old girl that lost one leg and her little sister's life. To be fair, I do recall hearing about a boy from Iraq brought here to the US for emergency care after he picked up a "ball" (cluster bomb), losing an eye, both hands, nearly disemboweling himself, lodging shrapnel in his brain, and killing his big brother...but I might well have only heard about it because the kid was brought to my area for care.

I mean, think about it -- cluster bombs aren't used in carefully targeted attacks to get rid of "bad guys", because government leaders & the military of a country have bunkers to hide in and enough warning of incoming attacks to reach them. It's the average, everyday civilians like us that are caught outside when an invading force starts dropping shit like cluster bombs, or that later find the undetonated remainders the hard way afterwards -- and the attacker isn't exactly going to consult locals to be sure it's not when all of the kids & many parents are walking to/from school...